The Green Party in Cornwall has launched its local election campaign with 71 candidates standing.

The campaign launch was held over Zoom and featured a number of candidates presenting their plans, followed by questions from the press in attendance.

On May 6, Green candidates, many of whom are already parish and town councillors, will be fighting for seats on councils across Cornwall - from Bude to Penryn and Saltash to St. Ives.

The platform on which they will be running includes:

  • Democratically accountable planning and an end to destructive ‘development’
  • A joined-up approach to health and wellbeing
  • Public transport that’s regular, affordable and reliable.
  • Housing policies that address local needs
  • A Green recovery that supports local businesses and jobs
  • Protecting climate, nature and biodiversity

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The party’s co-coordinator, Matt Valler, who is also the candidate for Falmouth Trescobeas and Budock, said: "This election is a game-changer for the Green Party in Cornwall.

"We’re fielding more candidates than at all the three previous Cornwall Council elections put together, and the fact that so many people have stepped forward to stand reflects a real appetite for positive change and a determination to create it.

"Greens offer a different kind of politics – we’re not about business as usual.

"We stand up for what we believe in, and we work hard with local people to get things done for our communities.

"At the last set of local elections elsewhere in the country, Greens more than doubled our number of council seats.

"And On May 6 people in Cornwall will have a chance to make sure that Green voices are in the rooms where decisions are made that affect their everyday lives."

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Local teacher, Tamsyn Widdon, is standing in Penryn, where she has been a town councillor for the last three years.

Tamsyn said: "Penryn is a fantastic place to live, but like so many communities in Cornwall it faces a range of problems – not least, many families facing real hardship that’s been made even worse by the pandemic.

"Now that the end of that crisis is in sight, I think there’s a real desire to build back better – and that has to start in our local communities.

"I decided to run for Cornwall Council because I’ve seen how decisions made there can make a real difference to people’s lives.

"I want to make sure that the people of Penryn have a representative who genuinely listens, who they can trust to stand up for their interests, and who has the imagination to see how things that matter to them can be changed for the better."

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Katharine Lewis, the Green Party’s candidate for Helston North was instrumental in getting her town council to declare a climate emergency and to declare Helston an Earth Protector Town – the first town in Cornwall to do this.

She is one of the co-authors of the Helston Climate Action Plan which has been used as a model for communities across Cornwall, and has worked hard to help get key projects off the ground that are already bringing real benefits to her local community, including a repair café and community growing project.

"I’m standing because it’s important that those of us that can, step up now.

"There are many changes ahead but I believe that we can work together to make Helston a place where people and nature can thrive.

"There’s been much good work has been done here in Cornwall to address the climate and ecological emergency, but there’s so much more still to do.

"The impacts of this crisis are already affecting us here in Cornwall.

"We need to go further and faster, and do much more to reach out and engage with our communities, to take them with us and make sure no one is left behind."

  • The Packet has contacted Cornwall's other political parties for similar information.